A Few Little Crafty Tasks....

Hello and welcome back to my lockdown world!!  Things remain the same here except that the lockdown is now being extended until the end of the month....I suspect it will be extended again after that, but I'm fine with it, as long as it keeps us all safe.

I have spent so much time on the internet and chatting on social media, but I have managed to read a few books on my Kobo and now I've actually done a few dolly things too.

Firstly I finished an outfit for one of my Kaye Wiggs girls that I'd actually cut out back in January.  I put it away when my son was coming to visit and had every intention of actually sewing it when he left on the 7th February.  Well that never happened but finally I started and finished about a week or so ago.  Here it is being modeled by Layla....

The outfit consists of a knit fabric hoodie with separating zip, a cap sleeved striped tee shirt and a skater skirt with attached leggings.

Another job that I've been meaning to do for ages is some partial re-rooting to one of my Sashas.  This girl is called Destin and she has been with me for almost 6 years, she is a Gotz Sasha Slate Eyes made in Germany in the mid 1960s.  She has nice thick hair at the back, although the ends are a little dry, but at the front on top it was a little thin.  I just happen to have here the perfect match in hair for her.  It comes from a modern Gotz doll that I used to have.  I cut off her hair and kept the hair before wigging her.  So the hair has been waiting to be used for this particular Sasha for maybe two years!!!  So I did that a few days ago and the hair really is the perfect match for her existing hair.  I didn't do too much, as I said above, her hair was thick at the back and I didn't want to overdo it, but I filled in some thin hair plugs and added just a few more.  Here she is before:

And here, showing you her new look:

Beautiful spring outfit is by Sarah Williams AKA Vintage Sasha
Orangutan is from IKEA
Socks by me and
Beautiful leather shoes by the late great Jean Jensen.

Finally,  I took some photos of Bailey, my 1971 wider faced brunette (rewigged) as she'd not been in front of the camera for ages.  I used my friend's camera to try it out....I didn't take many photos but thought these show her as she actually is....

Well that's all for now, so I will sign off and hope that you all remain safe and well.  

Big hugs

Sharon in Spain xx

And then there were TWO!!!!

As some of you will know, since my 1971 Brunette Sasha, Bailey, lost all her hair, I have been hankering after another Brunette.  I did reroot Bailey, in fact I rerooted and removed her hair twice, but she is now classed as a wig wearing 'waif'!!!  So recently I decided to make more of an effort to find a Brunette.  I missed a few because of time differences and another because I wouldn't pay a  high price for a doll with badly falling hair.  Then a dear sweet friend in the US came to my rescue.  Ginger of Sasha Shangri-La offered me a choice of one of her two Brunette girls and because I couldn't decide between them, liking them both for different reasons, I decided to adopt them both and bring them to live here in Spain.

The two girls arrived yesterday and today they are settling in and resting after their long journey from the USA.  As Ginger informed me, both girls have falling hair to some degree, but I have learned my lesson the hard way in the past, these girls will not be getting a hair wash, in fact they will not even have their hair combed!!  So if they look a little windswept please forgive me!!

First up is Stella who was named by her previous mum, Ginger.   Stella has white elastics although I'm not sure if they are her original ones, and pretty brown eyes, her lips have oxidised a little, she is in good 'played with' condition.  She has very thick hair and as far as I'm aware has no empty plugs :)  She is wearing a new outfit that I recently received from Ginny, of  A Passion for Sasha, I think it really suits her colouring.  Her shoes are made by Noreen and her socks are made by me.

Secondly we have this little lady.  She had a sad start to life apparently, she was owned by a person who had acquired her in a 'lot' of dolls, and sadly the person didn't even like Sasha dolls!!!  She has never been played with, and never had a name!  I think you can see this sadness reflected in her face! ;)  So she went to live with Ginger, where she was happy but still didn't get named, LOL, and now she has come to live here with me.  She too has nice thick hair and no missing plugs as yet.  Her elastics are also white and she has lots of sand falling from her joints.  She came to me wearing her original gingham outfit but changed straight away into this outfit which I made a while ago for another girl.  The reason she hasn't got anything new yet is because the outfit I made especially for her, just didn't suit her, so I will make her something else. Red leather boots are made by Ruthsdolls.

And here are some photos of the two girls together.  They are happy to have one another because it's always a bit overwhelming to arrive in a new home in a strange country  and not know anyone, but I'm sure that my other girls and boys will soon make them feel at home :)

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed meeting the new girls.  I will hopefully have a name for Little Miss No Name very soon! 

The Sashas get spruced up for Spring!

Today I got the four Sashas that I have with me, ready for Spring, and decided it was time they had some new photos taken.  I know that Bailey had some photos taken on Sunday but since then she has got a new wig.  Because Toddler Teddy is here with me too, he likes to have his photo taken with his sisters....well maybe a bit of 'gentle persuasion' of an ice cream afterwards, did help a little! ;)

Firstly we have Nuria, my 1968 Ballet girl, she is wearing a dress that I made just from measurements, without a pattern, approx three and a half years ago, in anticipation of my first Sasha arriving.  Whilst the doll in question, Millie, was en transit from the UK, I panicked thinking "oh  my goodness, she'll have nothing to wear!"  So I quickly got measurements from someone and made this simple summer dress from some shirting fabric I had, then tea dyed the lace for the bottom.  The dress is a little long as I prefer my dresses nice and short, and the bodice isn't a perfect fit, but Nuria suits the colours so well with her red hair, that she wanted to wear it.  Who am I to turn her down!  Her socks are by me and her lovely brown leather shoes are by the late great Jean Jensen.

Next we have Wren, my Kilt girl from 1968/9.  She is wearing a dress I made last year I think it was, the colour goes so well with her eyes, the perfect matching blue!  Although you can't see her shoes and socks in this photo, below in the group photos you will see she is wearing lovely pale blue shoes, again by Jean Jensen and white socks by me.  (Please excuse her dodgy fringe!)

Next we have Bailey, my once Brunette Sasha from 1971.  Yesterday she received this new Pintucks wig from Brenda Walton in the UK, and after I washed and conditioned it we put it into two pigtails (inspired by Sarah Williams) and added some strips of blue and white Paisley fabric.  Her outfit is made by me and her navy blue shoes are again by Jean Jensen.

Now we have another little sweetie, Skye.  Skye would be described as a 'waif' as I cut the length of her hair into this bob as the ends were very dry.  She is from 1969.  She's wearing an aqua check dress that I made, along with her socks, and this time, her lovely mustard yellow shoes are from Marti Sanders Murphy in the US.  They were a very kind Christmas gift to me from a dear Sasha friend :)

The lineup wouldn't be complete without my one and only Toddler, Theodore or Teddy as he is known to his friends!  Teddy is a Gotz Erik and is well loved by myself and the rest of my Sasha/Gregor family.  He's wearing an outfit I made for him, and Gotz 'suede' sneakers.

Finally some photos of them all together. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

"World Doll Day" Tag

A couple of days ago I was 'tagged' by Farrah Lily at Cozy Comforts and Dolls blog, which can be found here: http://cozycomfortsanddolls.blogspot.com.es 

The tag is to: 
1. List 3 favourite dolls from the ones you got last year.
2. List 3 dolls currently on your wishlist.
3. Tag 5 people to do the same thing! (Anyone with a home on the web, not just bloggers, can be tagged!)

So here goes, these aren't in any particular order:

1.  My 3 favourite dolls from ones I got last year.....

Of the three Sasha dolls that came to live here in July 2014, my favourite is definitely Núria, my beautiful redhead Ballet girl from 1969.  I saw her pop up on Sarah of Vintage Sasha's blog and knew immediately that she was for me.  She has such an expressive face, one moment she looks tranquil or sometimes sad, but she can also look quite annoyed too, it just depends on how the light hits her beautiful features!

Another favourite is Ellie, my Little Darling painted by Dianna Effner.  When I saw her up for sale on a BJD forum back in  I was immediately smitten and contacted the seller about her.  I wanted her so badly but was a bit short of the asking price, but the seller was lovely and agreed to wait a week or so until I'd sold one of my BJDs to get the balance!  Fortunately I sold a doll really quickly and this little beauty came to live her in Spain.  Readers of my blog will know that she's put me through some angst in the earlier part of this year, but I have to say that I've no regrets adopting her, I love her!!!

My next favourite of the three has got to be another of my Little Darlings!!  It is in fact Reece, my factory painted #2 sculpt which was released for the UFDC back in July 2014.  I saw several fro sale on Ebay and could see the potential in this little sweetie, so I decided to contact the UFDC directly and bought one from them.  As soon as she arrived home I changed her wig, then I enhanced her eyes slightly with glaze to bring them to life.  I love this girl too, she's so sweet and cheeky looking!!!

2.  Three dolls that are on my wish list.....

Now this is hard because I am not very good with Wish Lists....I tend to make a decision that I want to adopt someone then I will go all out to find that doll and adopt it if I have the money at the time!  If the doll becomes available and I don't have the funds then I will do my best to find them, usually by selling a doll that I know I can replace if I miss too much!!!  However, if money were no object, I would like a girl just like this one, she belongs to a lovely dolly friend who I'm sure won't mind me sharing his girl here.....I do believe though that if, in the unlikely event that this doll became available for adoption, there would be a very long queue!!!  

This is Steve's gorgeous No Philtrum Sasha from the 1960s......love her!!!

  
Another doll that I suppose we could say is on my Wish List, although she is actually already ordered and deposit paid, is this lovely girl being painted by the artist Lana Dobbs.  She's a tanned Little Darling #1 sculpt.  I have already been waiting 15 months so hopefully I'll have her by Christmas!!  

And finally, one day I would like an early brunette Sasha with non falling hair and a wider face!!  Not asking much eh?  ;)  The one below belongs to another lovely dolly friend, Kendal, and I'm sure she'll not mind me using a photo of one of her lovely girls who fits my description perfectly!!!

3. Tag 5 people to do the same thing!

OK so who to tag!  I think I'd like to hear from the five people below, but if you'd like to do this anyway, then please do....I'd love to read it!

Dee of Sasha Village
Jenni of The Bryn Derw Kids
Kendal of Kendal's Sasha Brood 
El Rincon de Bright
Cloud and Klaus


Please don't feel obliged to do this, I know people are busy but if you want to then please do share!!


 

Without further ado......Steve's gorgeous doll collection! (Photo heavy!!)

Well as I said yesterday, despite all the chatting we did when we visited Steve, James and Rachael, and how we almost forgot to look at Steve's gorgeous dolls, I did in fact end up taking a LOT of photos of them!  How could I not!  He has such a lovely collection, it was an opportunity too good to miss!

Steve has extremely good taste in dolls, so without further ado I will share the photos, although please forgive me for their graininess....it was a very dark day and I'd have preferred to use a tripod!  But a bad work(wo)man always blames their tools, don't they ;) . And I'm not even going to pretend to know who is who!  I can tell an NP but I'm still not completely sure about 'single fringe' etc etc.....so please, just enjoy!!! 

Now I do know that this is an early Cora, with perfect curly hair!

And this is my favourite Gotz No Nose, she's just beautiful, isn't she!

Such a serene little face :)

Obviously a No Philtrum redhead, such dreamy eyes :)

And a blond, she's lovely too :)  Her eyes are almost violet.

And this stunning girl with her gypsum head and cloth body, wearing a really attractive Ruthsdolls outfit.  Look at those eyes!  Oh what a story she could tell us if only she could talk!

Another lovely blond NP, I think she's a single fringe girl too?

And this one below is my absolute FAVOURITE!  The moment Steve adopted her I fell for her....and coveted her too ;)  Good job for Steve that I didn't have a big handbag with me, she might have had to sneak back to Spain for a holiday! ;)  Just joking Steve...honest !!

It's funny because I have said to both Dee and Steve in the past that I'm 'lucky' in that I don't hanker after an NP Sasha.  I love them, love looking at them but could say, hand on heart, that I didn't want to get one.  However, this girl has changed my opinion completely!  I can still honestly say that I don't want any NP....just this ONE!!!!  If I ever win the lottery........ ;)

I'm sorry to sound so gushing, but this little girl is just perfect! 

 And a very handsome NP boy, in his lovely warm winter outfit and new boots!

Another gorgeous girlie, my second favourite.....though how you'd really choose I don't know! 

Steve's collection of antique dolls is also lovely.  The big girl in coral on the left is particularly gorgeous.

Steve's only Himstedt!  I used to have her cousin...one of my biggest regrets, selling my Himstedts!!   Look at her precious wooden horse and her own little doll.  I think it's a tiny Helen Kish doll.

And finally this gorgeous Kathe Kruse girl, also dressed in a super Ruthsdolls outfit. 

Thanks so much once again Steve for sharing your lovely doll family with us.....It was fantastic!